THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
569 
operations against Iris boats, actuated, doubtless, by a mistaken sense of patriotism. 
The huge creature has many times been known to rise suddenly under a 
canoe and, seizing it in his ponderous jaws, crush it as if the effort was no 
greater than the breaking of an egg-shell. The natives _ frequently harpoon 
the hippopotamus. They will fasten in him a harpoon attached to a rope 
which has a large floater, or bob, at the other end. 
When struck the animal goes plunging off, but 
in spite of his extraordinary ability for remaining 
under water, the bob betrays his whereabouts. They 
next fix three ropes so that two of them will make 
an acute angle, and when thrown over the bob 
they can not slip. These two ropes are now twisted 
into one, while the third is held by natives on the 
opposite side of the stream. The hippopotautus is 
now harnessed, and is gradually pulled towards 
the bank of the double ropers, until finally, in 
spite of frequent vicious charges, restrained by the 
rope on the other bank, he is landed helpless on 
the shore, and is then speedily dispatched. 
The color of the hippopotamus is a dark, fleshy- 
red, marked irregularly by black spots. The young 
are very fond of riding about on the back of the 
mother, who bestows upon it the most zealous care, 
at which time she is so solicitous of its safety that 
she will viciously attack anything which she may 
come suddenly upon, even if it be simply a log 
which meets her sight unexpectedly. 
UNGULATES.—CAMELS. 
In the eastern steppes are found large troops 
of the patient-eyed Camel —the ship of the desert. 
In our thoughts of the camel as a means of transit 
we are apt to overlook the other services which it 
is called upon to render. It supplies food which, 
even though inferior to what Shakespeare calls 
“beeves or muttons,” is palatable and nutritious; 
its milk is as excellent and as pleasant to the taste 
as that of the cow. Its hairy covering is woven into 
fabrics, from which tents, clothing and coverings 
are made; or it is twisted into cords which fur¬ 
nish harness and other necessary conveniences; its 
skin supplies an excellent quality of leather; its 
refuse is used for fuel; and all these sources of 
profit are to be added to that patient and long- 
continued endurance, without which even the exist¬ 
ence of the traveller through the deserts would become impossible. And an 
omniscient Providence has given the camel an anatomical and physiological 
structure which not only adapts it to its environment but which enables it to 
so serve the needs of the higher creature—man. The camel is no longer 
HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP. 
